Hey there, buddy. Welcome out to another episode
of Redeemed Through His Blood. Scott Durfee here
joined as always by the beautiful Deborah Durfee.
Hello, Deb. Hello, my friends. How are you? Deborah?
I'm so good. You know, when I do this every weekend,
I don't know if our listeners are aware, but
there are transcripts available. You can go to
RSS .com and under the website for the podcast
and find them there. But every time when I do
a generate a transcript from the podcast, Deb,
I suppose your name wrong. Deborah. Exactly.
D -E -B -O -R -H. And it's just D -E -B -R -A.
Deborah. Yep. Yeah. That's right. And it also
spells Durfee the other way. I was going to say
wrong, but those who are spelling it with D -E
-E may take offense to that. Because I think
we're actually the ones that changed, not them.
So anyway, that has nothing to do with a podcast.
How's things going, babe? Good. Yeah, summer's
over. I know. It's not really. Well, here's the
thing. The other day I was mindlessly scrolling
and I saw this 30 days, half September, April,
June, and November. All the rest have 31 except
July. It only has four. Four days. Yes. I swear
it was just the 4th of July and now it's over.
Like July just flies by. I think we need three
full months of July. I wish January would go
as fast as July. Well, we did kind of talk about
it last week. I think that you said that July
was your favorite holiday. Summer is my favorite.
Oh, summer. Summer. Yes. Summer is your favorite.
Yes. That's right. I just want this to slow down
because I am one of those that love the heat.
For sure. For sure. Yeah. Well, well, and it
has been hot here on the Wasatch front. I know
we went to a rodeo and got sweaty. We went to
a. park and listen to our family. My brother
Darren, he has a band, Puppadooey and the Pistons,
and we sat on those chairs and I'm holding a
sleeping baby just to sweat and love it. And
we had grandma with us. It was awesome. Good
time. Summer just is such a happy time. And then
even last Friday we went and saw one of our Institute
teachers that teaches with us. Oh, that's right.
He had a band too in his front yard. Yeah, that
was a lot of fun in Alpine, Utah. That was a
great time. Yeah, there's just a lot of happiness
that goes on in July. That's why I want it to
last three more months. This is really interesting
hearing you say that the the queen of happy.
You're happy in the winter too, babe. I kind
of fake it in the winter. No, you don't. You
don't. People can tell. Well. Here we are, we're
moving right along in the podcast. Before we
get started, every week I intend to do this and
I just get into the podcast and realize, oh my
goodness, I forgot to do that. If you have emails
that you'd like to share with us or questions
that you'd like to ask or experiences that you'd
like to share or stories or or whatever and they
can be private or they can be ones that you would
like us to share. Yeah or questions. I think
I said that but or questions and and you can
send those to us at he redeems us at gmail .com.
He redeems us at gmail .com. We've received some
recently, Deb. Pretty amazing ones actually.
Have this we love our listeners. I have this
seriously this gentleman Has sent us about a
half a dozen well, and there's several others
in here, too But this one in particular. I just
wanted to to kind of read Maybe not the whole
thing. I probably should have read through it
before I did. But he says he's been a lifelong
member. He grew up in Mississippi. His mom was
born in the covenant and dad was a convert. Growing
up in the church, we went to church, but we didn't
live it. Over the years, I've had some pretty
miraculous experiences. I recently learned about
your podcast and then he puts OMG with lots of
exclamation points. I always have the questions
you address. Thank you for sharing your experiences,
the bluntness of your lives. I've never understood
why I was getting such powerful experiences and
why I was given so many revelations. I seemed
to self -destruct after each experience and I
thought I was the only one and didn't know how
to stop until now. Thank you very much. for sharing
and then he goes on and you know that was you
know one day and then about a week later another
one comes and he's actually my age he says I'll
be 62 in a few days and All the questions that
y 'all putting up I've never heard in any class
before and I appreciate your openness. It's so
refreshing and another one this other person
Anyway, just a lot of really you know what that
reminds me of is sometimes when we teach Institute
I tell our students I said If you can't handle
the truth, probably don't come to our class because
we do puke truth. I'm one of those that lived
a, you know, it's that sweep that under the rug
kind of era that we just don't talk about that.
That as I got older, I was like, this is not
the way God wants His church to be ran because
we're all sinners helping sinners. And not that
we have to shout our sins from a... mountaintop
or anything like that, but just knowing and understanding
because I was that person that went to church
thinking I was the only one going through X,
Y, or Z. And I just thought, I don't know who
to talk to. I have no idea. I definitely don't
belong here because I don't have what they have.
It's such a comparison thing and I get it and
I know my weaknesses, but I think it is so important
to know that you are not alone. And we say that
every week in our podcast that we really are
not alone. We all are trying to muddle through
this messy life and trying to figure out how
to return back to Him and apply the atonement
of Jesus Christ in our lives. And it's powerful.
It is, I mean, for me, I remember the first time
I walked into a 12 step recovery meeting and
I listened to another woman talk about her husband
with an addiction problem and there was such
a sigh of relief. I felt like somebody had cut
open a big... blob of infection and just let
me bleed it out. It was so, and not that I wanted
anybody else to go through it or have any suffering
that, you know, it was just nice to know I'm
not alone. And, and this is the thing about,
um, the church and The way Christ came down here
and even taught his disciples is that we are
here for each other We are here to lift we are
here to love. I mean the baptismal covenant Going
on to you know to mourn with those that mourn,
you know I I was on the phone today with a couple
of my kids and You know, some of them are carrying
some heavy burdens right now and you know, I
just wanted to mourn with them and then you know
some of them are having wonderful experiences
and I'm celebrating with them so it's you know
it's just it's what we do and it's not just in
families but our neighbors which are you all
of our listeners you're our neighbors you're
our friends you're you're uh you know I remember
reading in um scriptures about Jesus calling
us our friends, and I think I've addressed this
before, and a friend they refer to as a covenant
relationship. And I just think we're, you know,
we're just disciples helping disciples, you know,
Christians helping Christians, covenant people
helping covenant people. This is what we do.
Sinners helping sinners. Yeah. And we truly all
are. You said a couple things in there, Deb,
that kind of caught my ear. We do have topic
today. We're going to cover it. Kind of went
down a rabbit hole. Well, we usually do. But
I think this is OK. And I think it's also important
because you said something about, you used the
word honest. Right. If you if and how important
that is and how for you it just set you free
when you could finally feel like you could be
honest in a setting that would just set you free.
And I think that you're not I know for a fact
that we're not the only ones who have and do
feel that way. One of the things I just want
to point out, though, is that that having that
desire to be completely honest is actually one
of the foundations of repentance. Oh, yeah. You
know, and so when we talk about repentance and
I have this whole outline here and I'm happy
to share it. I'm not going to probably put it
in the notes. But if anybody would love or like
to get a copy of this repentance is it's an outline
of what repentance is. And so it goes through
what it is and it's a process, a choice, an attitude,
a way of being, et cetera. And then it goes into
the foundations of repentance. And there's basically
three points to the foundations or three foundations
of repentance. First one is really understanding
the atonement of Jesus Christ. Let me push pause
when we talk about repentance. What are we talking
about? We're talking about turning away from
the effects of the fall of Adam and Eve and we
could go through those again But we're not going
to take the time to do that tonight But but just
remember what are they there everything that
has to do with a spiritual death or a physical
death? So basically every problem you have Every
I was having this conversation with my dad today,
you know, and and we decided that hey, you know
when you're born you start dying The day you're
born, you're on your... There's a song about
that. Is there? Yes. I don't want you to sing
it. I don't even remember the tune, but I just
remember the words that the day you're born,
you start dying. I know one of our listeners
knows this song. OK. Anyway, so we were talking
about all of the... I kind of lost my train of
thought there. I'm sorry. What did I say? You
said... Oh, really understanding the atonement.
You said... When we the day that we are born
we start Oh, that's right. Okay. So yeah, we
really need to understand the atonement of Jesus
Christ That's the first foundation of repentance.
The second foundation is having a desire to be
completely honest That's scary. Yeah, that's
scary. Sometimes I remember working with a sponsor
when she said Deb I want you to think about this
when you just Open up doing that fourth step.
Yeah is what I don't want you to know about me
is right and then start writing and I was like
there is no way I'm putting that on a paper unless
it gets burned really fast. Yeah, did you burn
it? You know what? No, I didn't I don't even
remember. I actually drew a picture believe it
or not. Okay. Yeah, and It's one of the ways
that I it looked like an elementary elementary
school child drew it, but it was very healing
to get that out and to, you know, those things
that we're going to take to the grave and those
secrets. But in Chapter 18 of the Divine Gift
of Forgiveness, he talks about the uncompromising
honesty. Exactly. That gut level honesty. And
I always share a story about it. mortuary about
a sealed room in the basement of this mortuary
that had me baffled for quite a few years. I
still think about it. My sister was dating a
guy that was a mortician. And the mortuary that
he worked out was in downtown Salt Lake, one
of those old, beautiful homes that they had converted
into a mortuary. And it had the old fashioned
elevators that opened up and had this grate that
went across the front. And then you close it
and it rattles and rattles and rattles and goes
to each floor. And it was it was as a 15 year
old girl. I was I was fascinated by this old
and to some people it's not old, but it was eighteen
hundreds old. And I don't know who that would
be able to. But yeah, OK. But Anyway, he was
taking us on this tour of this, this mortuary
and he was telling it when we went to the basement,
there was a body down there being embalmed. And
he's like, do you want to see the body? And I'm
as a 15 year old, there's a little bit of no,
I don't want to see it. Um, so he walked, he's
taking us around and showing us that this was
a sealed room. He said, and he goes, but they
broke open, it broke it open in the 40s, 30s
or 40s and found alcohol. They found a whole
bunch of wine and other things. And then this
other one was a sealed room and this other one
still is sealed. And he says, in fact, when they
did the add -on on the back of the mortuary in
1970, whatever, the construction workers busted
it open and immediately when they opened it,
they resealed it and nobody talked about what's
in that sealed room. And then my curiosity got
at me and I'm like, what in the world could be
in that sealed room? Well, as I thought about
getting gut level honest, I thought, you know
what? Had a sealed room for a long time in my
soul that I was gonna take that secret to the
grave Yeah, that I was not that's one thing I
will never talk about I won't admit I did not
do that I did not participate in that whatever
that I was gonna take that to the grave and I
remember When I started doing step work and my
dear sponsor all how I love her and how she changed
my life forever She said, when she told me those
words, what I don't want you to know about me
is my sealed room cracked. And I, I had to, I
got to, I I'm going to call it a got to. I got
to get gut level honest and to just, and it wasn't
anything really that I hadn't repented about
or anything like that as much as I just didn't
want people to know this about me. And I think
when it was, um, when I, when that sealed room
per se in my gut or in my soul was opened and
I didn't have any secrets anymore, there was
a, there was such a freedom to that of like a
relief of, like a relief of, um, I don't know,
tension or Anyway, that to me is that repentance
piece. Well, and that's a common, I don't know.
descriptor, that's a common way that we hear
it described, right? Is when I was finally able
to get honest or honest enough, because for some
of us, this is a constant battle or an effort,
constant effort, you know, because I think that
for some of us, and I really do mean us, I'm
implicated here. I really think this for some
of us that, you know, honesty is. not something
that's just super easy sometimes. And I don't
mean I don't have to justify it. I just mean
even little like me lies, you know, just the
little things. And anyway. So important so that
we just we kind of went did go down a little
bit of a rabbit hole there But I think it's important
that we did and and understanding I've already
talked about now the first two foundations of
repentance I said there was three so I have to
say the third one, but but if you think about
this You know if I'm gonna go back to the first
two if we the first foundation of repentance
is really understanding the atonement of Jesus
Christ So if I really understand the atonement
of Jesus Christ That's what gives me the desire
to be honest, right? If you remember, we go back
several podcasts and we talk about desire coming
from our gratitude. Gratitude for the Savior
for what he did is what really begins the desire
within each one of us. Gratitude begins from
gratitude comes our desire. So once I have gratitude
for the atonement of Jesus Christ, now I have
a desire to be completely honest. Why do I have
that desire to be completely honest? Because
of the third foundation which is because I have
adequate faith in Jesus Christ To know that he
can and will indeed we talked about this last
week redeem me from my sins If I align with him
this game so we now we move into the keg again
into the conditional effects of the atonement
of Jesus Christ just to kind of recap Last week,
we talked about redemption from sin. Prior, you
know, in several episodes prior to that, we talked
about the unconditional effects. For those of
you who are just tuning in, we talked about the
unconditional effects of Jesus Christ's atonement.
There are many and some of the most beautiful
blessings are those that are unconditional. We
have that last beginning last week began talking
about the conditional effects of the atonement
of Jesus Christ. And we'll be continuing that
conversation tonight. So last week we talked
about redemption from sin. We talked about how
that is one of the main conditional effects of
the atonement of Jesus Christ is because it's
through the atonement of Jesus Christ that we
not only overcome sin, but we overcome the effects
of sin. Right and when there was a couple of
scriptures, Deb I think that we used is there
one of those that you'd like to kind of Recap
or I mean revisit when it comes to redemption
Well, there's two and I don't know how I choose
one or the other Mosiah 3 19 Should we just do
them both? I mean, there's there's there's there's
many. We're not just saying there's only two
that talk about redemption, but we want to focus
on potentially maybe a couple from last week
just to kind of put us back in the groove of
things here to put us back on track in terms
of talking about the effects of Christ's Atonement.
So which one do you want to go with first? I'm
going to go with Mosiah 319. OK, King Benjamin.
I remember when you guys were recording this.
talking about this before and you said in Benjamin
3, King Benjamin 3 and I'm thinking I don't remember
where King Benjamin is. I remember looking it
up. Bless my ignorance. For the natural man is
an enemy to God and has been from the fall of
Adam and will be forever and ever unless That's
circled in my scriptures. He yields to the enticings
of the Holy Spirit and putteth off the natural
man and becometh a saint through the atonement
of Christ the Lord and becometh as a child submissive,
meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing
to submit to all things. I always think of a
child when I hear of that. I read that. Submit
to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict
upon him Even here you go, even as a child doth
submit to his father And then in Helaman We did
read these yeah last one I remember yeah, so
this is Helaman chapter 5 one of my very favorite
scriptures We're going to read 10 and 11. And
remember also the words which Amulek spoke to
Zizram in the city of Ammonihah, for he said
unto him that the Lord surely should come and
redeem his people, that he should not come to
redeem them in their sins, but to redeem them
from their sins. I love that. Yeah. Not in their
sins, but from their sins. Get us away from those
sins. And he hath power given unto him from the
Father to redeem them. from their sins because
of repentance Therefore he has sent his angels
to declare the tidings and conditions of repentance
Which bringeth unto the power of the Redeemer
unto the salvation of their souls And then, of
course, you can't read that without reading the
Helaman 512, right? Now, my sons, remember, remember,
that it's upon the rock of our Redeemer, who
is Christ, the Son of God, that you must build
your foundations. And when the devil shall send
forth his mighty winds and his shafts in the
whirlwind, and when all his hail and his mighty
storm shall beat upon you, it shall have now
no power over you to drag you down to the gulf
of misery and endless woe. because of the rock
upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation,
a foundation whereon if men build, they cannot
fall. Not that they will not fall. It's impossible
for, if we build our foundation on the rock of
our Redeemer, we cannot fall. It's quite a promise.
It's quite a promise. Wow, right? So, you know,
throughout the podcast and throughout the course
that we teach at Institute and, you know, over
the several years that we've been doing the podcast,
one of the main things, Deb, that have came that
has really come through the podcast each time
are these blessings that come because of Jesus
Christ's atonement. Now, it's important maybe
that we remind ourselves here there's no power
in the atonement. The blessings are from Jesus
Christ. Right. They come from him. They're made
available to us because he went through the atonement
and finished his work. Right. It is finished
again, like you said, on the cross. But because
he finished his work, all of these things can
happen, not because of a separate entity called
the atonement. These blessings come from Jesus
only. OK, so we're redeemed. First blessing from
the atonement of Jesus Christ is redemption.
One of the other ones, and they're in no particular
order, but the next one that we frequently talk
about is the enabling or strengthening. And we
can use those two kind of synonymously in this
situation, right? Strengthening and enabling
powers that come from Jesus Christ because of
his atonement. Which reminds me of another scripture
which has been my favorite for a long time And
I can't really say favorite anymore because I
have too many favorites. So I just have a scripture
I really like still but the ether 1227 which
is such a powerhouse and Such a personal inventory
one for me. So while you're looking that up when
Deb and I were first knew each other before we
were married. This is one, I don't know if you
remember this or not, but this is one of the
days I fell in love with you, was you were, we
were talking and I don't remember exactly what
woes I was spilling on you or the discouragement
that maybe I was feeling at that time, but you
used this scripture and introduced, not for the
first time, but introduced to me probably, babe.
What this scripture meant to me for the first
time I'll never forget that I forget I forget
the date in the exact situation But I don't forget
that that actually happens So when I think of
ether 1227, I think of a lot of things first
Jesus But one of those other things I think of
is you and that and helping me along with that.
I appreciate that I did not know that. Yeah,
that's good to know. Yeah 20 something probably
25 years ago. Yeah So, Ether 1227 says, and if
men come unto me, I will show them their weakness.
You know, I don't think necessarily we need help
with showing our weakness. However, pride does
get in the way and I often have to go to the
Lord and say, all right, I need, anyway, I'm
going to keep reading this. And if men come to
me, I will show them their weakness. I give unto
men weakness that they may be humble. and my
grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves
before me. For if they humble themselves before
me and have faith in me, then will I make weak
things become strong unto them. I will never
forget when I learned about this personally,
about feeling so inadequate, so broken, so weak.
And, um, I just, I just know that when we humble
ourselves before the Lord, He has a whole lot
more in store for us that we never even imagined.
And to become that vulnerable and open to say,
and humble, you know, I always think of the broken
heart. and contrite spirit. And I always say
a broken heart is an open heart. And it doesn't
necessarily mean that we're, you know, heartbroken
over a relationship, but literally heartbroken,
yes, over a relationship, a relationship that
we hurt or harmed others, and especially that
Jesus had to drip drops of blood, suffered for
this, that I caused pain for this. And I think
it's such a powerful scripture to take your weakness
and there's opposition in all things. So if you
if you're willing to give up your weakness, he
says right in here, then will I make weak things
become strong unto them? And that is I testify
is true for a fact that is true. Do you have
any examples of that? Oh, gosh, I have so many
examples of that. Can you think of one? Sure.
I I have. I'm actually dyslexic, and it's been
a learning disability for me for my whole life.
And so I felt validated in school because my
grades were so low, because my learning abilities
were such a challenge for me. I learned better
audible. So if somebody hands me a book and says,
read this and tell me about it, I'm basically
in the fetal position because it was very, very
difficult for me to read as a child. And I remember
Um, scriptures were horrifically hard for me,
so hard. And I, as I got older and, and I started
having kids and I started over reading again
at just children books. Um, and then, you know,
trying to understand the scriptures, trying to
elementary read things to help me understand
I remember a time when, well, and it's in my
patriarchal blessing that if I will study, that
the Lord will reveal things to me. So, I put
that to the test. I really did plead and I said,
Heavenly Father, I can't read very well. And
it's challenging. And I always labeled myself
as stupid because it was validated in numerous
ways growing up. Getting an education and getting
a degree and all those kinds of things just overwhelmed
me. So I always did things with my, you know,
I got my NELL license and I did a rapid eye therapy
and I do other things that are more hands -on
rather than read a book and pass a test because
that was excruciatingly painful for me. Well,
as I dug into the scriptures, And as I pleaded
with him that he would reveal and make my weak
things become strong, I have been able to understand
scripture like I have never understood before.
And there's been numerous times and you've seen
me do this read a book and listen to it at the
same time plug my ear And like I have to overcome
or you'll read out loud. Yeah, I do read out
loud a lot, right? Because I'm an audible learner.
Well, you're adapting to the challenge and that's
wonderful Yeah, but as as I have watched that
weakness that very thing that made me feel so
stupid as a as a child or a student Or made me
feel stupid as an adult because I'd you know
made me feel not good enough. I hate using the
word stupid now, because I realized once I had
a way of learning, it's like, this is my strength.
And the Lord has gifted me with this. Like I
can read scripture now, I can read books now,
I can read all kinds of things that I literally
comprehend. And that is nothing of my doing.
I let Him heal that weak part of me. and strengthen
me to be an avid learner and a seeker, because
that was very challenging for me as a child.
And even sometimes as an adult, when my party
trick was always, I can say the alphabet backwards
as fast as I can say it frontwards, and I can
write backwards and forwards. And cursive. Yeah,
and print, yeah. I can do all kinds of party
tricks. You know, and I remember doing a report
back in the day before we all had computers and
printers that I wrote an entire essay backwards
for my English teacher and the comment at the
bottom was creative. And I thought, well, I guess
that's what I am is creative. So, well, so how
does this relate to the atonement of Jesus Christ?
Well, it relates to ether 1227. And that's where
I was at is taking my weak things because I did
not ever feel good enough ever. And when we graduated
from high school and all my friends were going
off to college, I was I was like, absolutely
not. There is no way I can. Besides the fact
I had another distraction, which we all know
about. But I mean, literally, I was like continuing
in education. High school was brutally painful
for me. It was so hard. And so I just thought,
I will be stuck here forever. I'll be a cashier
at the grocery store. Not that that's a bad job.
Not at all. No, not at all. And you're doing
wonderful things today. And not that those things
are how we measure our worth, but Deb's a director
over many divisions. company. So many people
report to her now. She went from driving a forklift
in the warehouse to being the big boss. I mean,
she answers almost directly right to the CEO
of the company. So, you know, it's really you've
done a great. And this is again, I didn't do
this. I know that. And that's the point. Right,
babe. And that's the point I hear you saying,
too, is like, you know, this wasn't on me. It
was because I responded to a promise in my patriarchal
blessing. I felt the enabling power of weak things
becoming strong through Christ's atonement in
my life. Again, here's another perfect, really
great example of When we think of Christ's atonement,
so many of us so frequently say it's for my sins.
And it is. We talked about that last week. But
again, I'll remind I remember and I know that
I've already shared this, but I remember a member
of a stake presidency and it's OK. You know,
we're stood up and said, I love the atonement
of Jesus Christ. I've had to use it several times
in my life. in the last four minutes for me we
draw our breath because of the atonement of Jesus
Christ we use it every day in our life whether
we know it or not but now we're talking about
the the the conditional effects and so these
are the ones that we know yeah and well where
we go to the strengthening enabling power yeah
i mean you cannot tell me I mean, and I will
testify with my hand raised to the square that
that was the strengthening, enabling power of
the atonement of Jesus Christ. I know that because
I was not capable to do this on my own. He had
to strengthen me and enable me. and compensate
me for where, you know, the little bit that I
want, the little effort he magnified, you know,
the little effort that I would put in listening
to books and following along with my finger so
I didn't read it wrong or whatever. But the compensatory,
I mean, to compensate there and strengthening
was powerful. I have probably in my own life,
and I think that it's, you know, you share yours.
I'm going to share. I want to share maybe where
there's been so many, so many examples in my
own life where the compensatory or strengthening
blessings have been been available to me or I've
been able to access them because of Christ's
atonement. And anytime I've overcome a sin or
a bad habit, you know, I smoked. for a long time.
And it was difficult. That was a very difficult
habit for me to overcome. And finally, Deb, it
wasn't until I asked for a blessing. I don't
know why it didn't occur to me before. Well,
I do know because I was hiding, right? Hide.
Maybe you had a sealed room. It was totally his
children. I was even hiding it from you at one
point. And it wasn't until I was actually received
a blessing and it was because of the priesthood
power, which again, the unlocked the ability
for the atonement, the enabling and strengthening
powers of the atonement of Jesus Christ to be
at work in my life. I hadn't planned on. sharing
that one. That's not something I'm proud of.
But that was difficult for me. That was part
of my sealed room. I used to say, well, I only
smoke when I drink. Well, I drink every day.
And then I quit drinking and I quit smoking.
I learned too that I had to apply the 12 steps
of Alcoholics Anonymous, which again is the gospel
for dummies. The atonement. The atonement for
dummies. No offense to those of us who are dummies,
you know, in Alcoholics Anonymous or other 12
step programs. And I say that just jokingly.
I hope you all know that. But it is only because
of his atonement. I can't. He can. I'm going
to let him. We've talked about that several times
now that I was able to do that. But the biggest
one for me is I tried to quit drinking. I started
drinking when I was 14 years old. Quit drinking
when I went on my mission and it wasn't a problem
and I thought I was done and then when I came
home off my mission I quit doing the things that
would enable of the spirit of this the spirit
of the Holy Ghost to be in my life and so I no
longer had access to the atonement to the degree
that I had if I had have been living my life
in accordance with His will. That's a perfect
example of repentance because you turned your
back on that drinking life and turned to Him.
You came to Him. That's a perfect example of
repentance. What repentance is, is you turned
your back on the sin and you faced Him. I love
that. The sin and everything that was because
of it. I had to learn why I drank, so I even
had to learn to turn my back on that. the defects
of character, the things that would be so easily
besetting to me. I had to learn how to apply
the strengthening and enabling blessings of Christ
the Atonement in my life in order for those things
to be set aside. In order for the effects of
the fall to be taken care of in my life, right?
When I think of the enabling and strengthening
blessings of the atonement of Jesus Christ, I
have to also remember, Deb, you know, this turning
for me, you know, you said that's a great example
of repentance. It is a good example of repentance.
And you know what else is a good example of repentance
for me along those lines is I have to do it every
day. Oh, yeah. Let me say that again. I get to
do it every day because it is a great. Blessing
for me to be able to and to even be required
to in order for me to maintain my spiritual progress
I have to turn to him and learn to rely on him
and turn my will in my life over the care of
him every day And I couldn't do that if I didn't
have faith in him, if I didn't know him, if I
didn't love him, if I didn't have desire to be
like him because of the gratitude I have for
him, because of what he went through for me.
Yeah. And I think that's another. a great example
of when President Nielsen said, find joy in repenting
daily. Daily repentance is the key. Oh, 100%.
What a gift. And when we slip and fall and make
a mistake or swear at that stupid driver that's
driving too slow or whatever. Is that how it
went for you today? That wasn't, I could give
you another example of what happened today. That
was just the first one that came to my mind.
But when we have that moment, push pause and
say, thank you. Thank you for the, for the opportunity
I have to, to repent, to turn my back on. Yeah.
I love that. I love that. I, that reminds me
of a story, you know, uh, David, who I used to
do the podcast with who's on a mission now and
you're sitting in his spot. Um, he sat in mine
first. I bought this chair 100 % Yeah, you bought
that chair for me for Father's Day and he sat
in it the whole time I don't understand this
but Chris his sweetheart, you know, she was struggling
with The atonement because she just always felt
so fallen this these are her words I'm you know
and we can go back and find this it's in an episode
Probably in all three episodes three seasons
prior to this one But when we just like you just
said when she would run into a situation where
she just like oh man I had a bad thought or oh
man I said or whatever she would bow her head
and say thank you yeah thank you for your atonement
thank you for letting me see my weak things let
me yeah exactly yeah thank you for letting me
see my weak things and thank you for making them
strong yes because I turn them to you I'm willing
yeah yeah Humble yourselves before Him. There's
a lot of meat in that scripture for me. One of
the things that I've noticed, you know, we keep
referring to the strengthening or the enabling
power of the atonement of Jesus Christ. Well,
I think that we could almost substitute that
word in many situations too with enabling or
strengthening grace. Oh, absolutely. Because
it comes as a grace sometimes. It comes as a
grace every time. I think about my, you know,
trying to read and trying to have that reading
comprehension. That was a pure, sacred act of
grace. Grace. What a gift. Yeah. So, you know,
last week we talked about grace, you know, grace
that forgives us. Tonight, we're talking about
grace that enables us. What's the difference
between those two graces? What's the difference
between grace that forgives us and grace that
enables us? Grace that forgives us and grace
that enables us. Not much difference. Yeah, I'm
not. Yeah, I'm not really seeing a huge difference.
There's not much difference. No. Right. Same
source. Yeah. Same love. Sacred, sacred. Same
bleeding from every pore. Grace and power. Those
two words in this situation go hand in hand.
It's an absolute grace. In fact, all the blessings
that come to us by way of Christ's Atonement
definitely come to us by way of grace. We can
never earn them. They definitely come to us by
way of grace. When it comes to strengthening
and enabling powers, maybe a question that we
can just ask ourselves as a prompt for this week
is, you know, where have you? our listeners,
where have you seen God make your weakness into
a strength or weaknesses or exactly or where
are you willing? Or even that, maybe that's more
important. That's probably one I need to ask
me, is where am I willing to now? I mean, that's
a past weakness that I have definitely been able
to see as a strength, but now it's like, it's
not that I'm done with my weaknesses, I promise
I have way more, but that's a great question
to say, what weakness am I willing to allow him,
can I humble myself enough to allow him to strengthen
me? What's my favorite weakness or sin? We have
some very close friends, Jory and Mandy. They
were on the podcast. They were on the podcast.
We've replayed that episode a couple of times
and we probably will again, but they had a tragedy
in their family. Their little one was while they
were at a church function, I believe they were
at the temple. A babysitter was with their baby
and when they returned the baby was dead. they
they shared about their experience of strength
and hope and and and trying to understand The
the instant that trying to understand this life
with that type of a situation in it I mean that's
we're talking the effects of the fall in ways
that you and I I Hope never have to understand
right. I know many of our listeners have I know
it's not but but I know that it's a situation
that you and I have never had to understand not
that story But there's but there's others. Yeah
We move now from his enabling and strengthening
power We're gonna move into and we talked about
compensatory blessings How he compensates us
and we talked about how many of those? Compensatory
blessings come by way of his atonement in an
unconditional fashion to us. We're compensated
unconditionally in a lot of ways. But when it
comes to when I need his comfort, when I need
his help in the unfairness or in the suffering
in my life, there's compensatory blessings that
are available to us because of that. I always
put the mirror in front of my face in these kinds
of things, and I never had that. I mean, I've
never had that type of that level of tragedy
that Jorian Mandy felt. However, I have had a
lot of unfairness and suffering in my life that
I definitely felt his compensatory blessing.
I remember, without going into too much detail,
being married to my first husband and dealing
with a really excruciatingly painful news. And
I remember thinking I have been nothing but faithful
and loyal and go to church and do all of this.
And why am I having to deal with this now? And
I was angry. I was so angry. It felt so unfair.
It felt so I definitely put on the victim the
victim title and was I was so upset. And I remember
when we were learning more about the atonement
and remembering that we are all His children.
And for us to understand and learn about forgiveness
and repentance and all of that, there has to
be things happen to us that aren't fair, so that
we understand a little tiny bit of what pain
and suffering he felt in the Garden of Gethsemane
Elder Bednar in April 2012 he had a there was
a talk about the powers of heaven and he a quote
in there is Christ suffered not only for our
sins, but also for the inequality anguish and
emotional distress And I'm sure our listeners
because of this messy messy world. We live in
I'm sure they have felt Inequality anguish and
emotional distress. We're humans. We're here
in a fallen world. We are experiencing all kinds
of unfairness and and we all know what suffer
looks like no matter the extremes but you know
we all we all feel that we all in one way or
another and I think it's I think it's important
for us to apply it in our own to say where has
Christ's atonement compensated me for my suffering
things that were unfair that I didn't feel like
it's funny how we use the word deserve, right?
Because, you know, one of the most powerful scriptures,
and probably the most read scripture is first
Nephi one one. I need five being born of goodly
parents and suffered many things. That's not
exactly I'd have to look it up to quoted exactly.
However, that literally when I read that. And
in fact, I'm going to read it. First, Nephi 1
.1, I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents,
therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning
of my father and having seen many affliction
in the course of my days, affliction, suffering.
I mean, let's, I mean, I'm, Nephi is a great
example of that. Nevertheless, and this is the
piece that penetrated my heart. Having been highly
favored of the Lord in all my days, yea, having
had a great knowledge of the goodness and the
mysteries of God, therefore I make record of
my proceedings in this day." He suffered many
afflictions and he's highly favored of the Lord.
So I'm like, I, Deborah, being born of goodly
parents, I literally put my name in there because
I can relate to that. We all can relate to that.
Affliction is definitely a universal problem,
right? It's definitely something that each of
us will have the opportunity, and it can be an
opportunity. Things can be made strong, right?
And we can bow our head and say thank you for
this. No growing in the comfort zone, no comfort
in the growing zone. Oh, bless my heart. But
it can be an opportunity. You know, the thing
that I wonder about this step... If you know,
last week we talked a lot about justice and mercy.
We're going to be talking a lot about that again
in an institute here this week, justice and mercy.
And what I want to know, and I'm posing this
question, if justice demands repayment for our
sins, what does it demand for our undeserved
pain? Right, we think about justice only being
the demander. of reconciliation around sin will
know justice must reconcile all things that have
that are fallen. And so if that's the case, if
justice demands repayment for our sins, what
does it demand for our undeserved pain? Wowzer.
Yeah. So let's be thinking of that this week.
Yeah. What does because we're running out of
time. We need to kind of cut it tonight, but.
This gives us plenty to think about this week.
We've got a lot to chew on. We've got a lot that
we can when we approach the sacrament table on
Sunday. There's a lot here that we can really
put in our hearts and begin to commune with Heavenly
Father for a deeper understanding around. But
this is one of them. If justice demands repayment
for my sins, what does it demand for my undeserved
pain? Because I have undeserved pain. There will
be justice. Yeah, yeah. What does it demand for
that? So let's think that through this week.
Let's talk about that next week. The other thing
I want, just by way of invitation to our listeners,
is what's something unfair that you can now begin
to see differently because of Christ's compensation?
Those kind of go together, actually. Because
undeserved fair undeserved pain and unfair could
be lumped in a very similar. Yeah, it is unfair.
Yeah, and it is undeserved. Yeah, and anything
unfair, but it's not going to be fair. It's true.
Right. It's true. Just physical pain. It's any
kind of. Yeah. And Heavenly Father loves us enough
that has allowed us to be compensated through
and by his son because of his atonement. because
of the great and final sacrifice. I think about
this stuff, Deb, and I just wonder, I was having
this conversation again with my dad, having a
conversation with my dad today, and it was just
a sweet, beautiful, loving gospel doctrine kind
of conversation, and one of the things that I've
realized is that Heavenly Father and Jesus, Jesus
has met me so much closer to my own effort than
expecting me to move towards his. Does that make
sense? Yeah. I mean, I put forth effort, and
it seems like I'm trying, but I fail miserably.
I'm so human still. No big sins. I'm living my
life in accordance with the commandments and
all of those things. My relationship though,
it is so important and the only important thing,
remember we go back to Luke chapter 10, right?
And the one needful thing is to be sitting at
the feet and hearing the words of Jesus. In other
words, worshiping Him, having that relationship
with Him. I need to remember that. And when I
do, when things get rocky, when things get tough,
when people in my life are making decisions that
are creating chaos for them that affects me,
I need to remember. that the atonement of Jesus
Christ provides not just redeeming blessings,
not just enabling and strengthening blessings,
but compensatory blessings as well. Next week
we're gonna talk more about the compensatory
blessings. One of the things that I really wanna
talk about, and I'm making a voice note of this
so I don't forget, is how important it is that
the compensatory blessings, that come by way
of Christ's atonement. How important those are
to me in the lives of those who I hurt. Yeah.
That's where, for me, maybe some of the greatest
blessings from Christ's atonement will come and
do come. Compensatory. Yeah. Yeah, it's a big
one. As we kind of wrap things up today We just
want to say that wherever you are and however
you're filling your welcome here Jesus isn't
just waiting you to clean everything up before
you come to him He meets us right in the middle
of our mess which reminds me of that him Where
can I turn for peace when he in the third verse
when he says he answers privately? Reaches my
reaching in my Gethsemane. That's where his grace
shines. So come as you are broken unfair, undeserved,
questioning, searching. You're not alone, friends.
We're in this together. I mentioned it earlier,
I'm gonna mention it again. Please don't hesitate
to send us emails to heredeemsusatgmail .com.
We read every single one of those and again,
we'll respond to as many as we possibly can.
Heredeemsusatgmail .com. And let me say thank
you to the many who have been. Roy, thanks for
letting us share your experience tonight and
keep those things coming. Yes. And if this episode
touched your heart, we would hope that you would
share it with someone you love and care about,
a friend, a family member, or anyone who could
use a little bit more hope. understanding their
undeserved pain and their unfairness and injustice.
Yeah, no kidding. Next week, I can't wait. We're
going to talk more about the compensatory blessings
of the Savior. We're going to talk about that
and then we're going to move into healing and
comfort compensatory, enabling and redeeming.
Give me healing and comfort. There's no question.
There's no question. But we're going to talk
specifically about blessings of healing and blessings
of comfort by way of conditional effects of the
atonement of Jesus Christ. Thanks for being with
us. We love you. And remember, there is always
hope through him because you have been redeemed
through his blood. So have I. We do indeed love
you. Thanks for being with us tonight and each
and every night until we're together again. Be
well.